North Easton Machine makes the parts that make things go

Tuesday

Jul 8, 2014 at 6:00 AMJul 8, 2014 at 6:11 PM

North Easton Machine Company Inc. recently celebrated its 50th anniversary. Using high-tech processes, the company makes high quality components and products that range from household products to items for defense and aerospace contractors.

NORTH EASTON – From components for electronic dog collars to parts that go into surgical bone drill, North Easton Machine Company, Inc., has been in the business of manufacturing intricate parts and pieces since 1964.

After borrowing $5,000 to buy his first manufacturing machinery in the 1960s, Donald Holbrook started the business in the garage of his home in Easton, said Donald’s son, Jon Holbrook, who runs the company today.

The business, which recently celebrated its 50th anniversary with a visit from state Sen. Tom Kennedy, sits behind Donald Holbrook’s original home on a 15,000-square-foot property in a residential Easton neighborhood. The business is operated by a staff of 25 including Vice President Paul Diamond.

Diamond said the $3 million business specializes in the production of widgets for industries including electronics, medical, telematics (remote technology to monitor and change road and vehicle activity) and hydraulics. It has customers in the U.S. and foreign markets.

Pricing of its products is based on the time, materials and process by which it is made. While a typical bolt may costs 59 cents at your local hardware story, a bolt made to a customer’s specification by North Easton Machine Company may cost 95 cents, if ordered in bulk, said Paula Martell, another North Easton Machine officials. Parts are shaped by one of the company’s specialized machines, including a CNC Swiss Screw machine, which shapes metal by means of a rotating fixture, said Martel.

Twenty percent of the company’s customers use its inventory management program, which forecasts demand and ordering lead time and allows ordering ahead to decrease lead time, said Diamond. The program is designed to benefit both the customer and the company’s suppliers of raw materials and plating/coloring services, he said.

According to Holbrook, the business has never has had a long-term primary customer; instead, it’s always had to react to the booms and busts of various economic segments.

“Our workload is very up and down. When Y2K happened, our business boomed because people needed specialized parts for computer technology. And when the housing market rose after the recession, there was a boom in the construction and real estate industry which increased our workload and sales. Then with wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, we started to supply parts for the defense industry” said Holbrook, an engineering graduate from Wentworth Institute of Technology and resident of Bridgewater.

In addition to the manufacturing role, the company also works to educate the public to the problem of offshore manufacturing, Diamond said.

“In the 2000s, China came onto the picture and a lot of the production of electronics went over there. It’s been that way since, but

Donald Holbrook, Diamond and Martel all agree that the public perception of manufacturing as an industry has changed – and not for the best – since the 1960s.

“I feel that it’s gone from an industry that the country was very proud of to an industry that suffers from a stigma that it’s dirty, unskilled, labor intensive and low pay,” said Diamond, who has North Easton Machine for 32 years. “But it’s actually quite the contrary. It’s a very high paid industry, very skilled and clean.”

As public perception of manufacturing has changed in one direction, a shift in technology has occurred as well. Workers used to use wrenches and hammers to set machines; today, the machines are controlled by computers.

“Our staff writes program code to make the machines do what they’re supposed to do, compared to using tools to set the machines like in the 1960s,” said Diamond, who lives in Easton.

Like most manufacturing companies today, the business’s biggest challenge is finding employees that have the right technical expertise and programming experience.

“There’s been a push to our nation’s youth to stray away from pursuing manufacturing jobs and that’s affected us from a talent acquisition perspective. I think the vocational programs have had to shift their thinking that manufacturing is going to be a viable career choice,” said Martel.

Fostering relationships with its customers, neighbors, public officials and employees always will be important to the business and its leadership, said Martel.

“And what’s special is that it all started from a guy with a vision who worked hard,” she said..